Sunday, May 31, 2009

I am doing a commission for Kevin of the Silk Spectre 2 from the Watchmen comics. Kevin always has such fun ideas for commissions (Like the previous Phantom Lady pieces) and this one is no exception. The idea is for the Silk Spectre's costume to be phasing off of her body. The word balloon says something like "Looks like Doctor Manhattan is in a loving mood!" There needs to be surprise and sexiness to her expression and body language. Playful too. Above are the three poses I came up with for the piece. Pose "B" was chosen, and rightfully so, as I think it covers all the bases. These were done in my sketchbook in pencil.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Happy Friday! Just a little warm up sketch this morning from my sketchbook and Photoshop colors. I've got a ton of work to dig into and it's fun to do something like this to get the creative juices going. Okay, back to work!

Thursday, May 28, 2009

I know nothing about this character. Other than writer Will Allred is a huge fan. And it's a cool costume. Thanks to another bout with insomnia that kept me up until 3:30am, I did this piece after finishing some work. This was done with blue Col-Erase pencil in my sketchbook. Colors added in Photoshop.

Also, I thought I would add that the sketchlist for HeroesCon is shaping up nicely. I'm getting some great requests. I will actually start some of them in my free time. Sketching them up in my sketch book. Some folks are sending their books to me before the show, to get a jump on it. Hopefully I will be able to post those sometime before the show.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

I don't buy monthly comics anymore. I know, I'm a bad person. But after buying monthly comics since the early seventies, I had too many boxes of books. ("Had" because I recently let go of my entire collection from golden age through bronze age books).

I do buy trades and hardcovers though. Of the hardcovers I buy, one of my favorites is INVINCIBLE. In my opinion, this is a great comic. Superheroes done right. A full, rich world of characters that you can really get to know and care for. I have always been a fan of Superboy. The idea of a character destined for greatness and you are along for the ride of him growing and learning. This is how I think of Invincible. Odds are he will be one of the best but right now, he is just trying to find his way and do what's right.

I only purchase the INVINCIBLE ULTIMATE COLLECTION's as they come out once a year. It takes a lot of patience to not buy the paperbacks that come out more frequently, or the monthly. But I am rewarded when the big hardcover comes out. If you have a chance, give it a try. There is another hardcover I pick up that only comes out once a year, but I will save that for another post.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Just a little "New Frontier" version of Wonder Woman for today. This was done in my sketchbook and colored in Photoshop.

HeroesCon is just a few weeks away and I have been getting emails and phone calls requesting to be put on my sketch list. I was going to wait until the next week or so to announce the advance sketch list but to fair I am opening it up now.

If you are sure you are attending HeroesCon and would like a sketch from me, send me an email with "Sketch List" in the subject line. Tell me what you would like and I will send you the rates. Then you can decide to go forward with it or not. I posted the rates here before but this time I am going to send them off-list. I will be doing color work for the first time at the show so that will be something to consider as well.

The rules are simple: you don't have to send any money in advance, you just have to attend the convention and can pay there. I may start some artwork ahead of time, I may even finish some ahead of time. As of right now I have 6 people on the sketch list. I don't know how many I will take as it depends on the requests. If you have any questions, you can ask here or in an email.

I missed HeroesCon last year and all the people I see there every year, so I am really looking forward to seeing everyone there next month.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Earlier this month I showed some concept art I was doing for a project I am working on with my buddy, writer J.C. Vaughn. I have put together five penciled and lettered panels for the pitch. Above is panel five. Can't say too much about it right now but I will share more info as I can.

I hope everyone enjoyed the Memorial Day and took a moment to remember what this day is all about.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I filled up my sketchbook yesterday and didn't get a new one until this afternoon so the title of todays post is slightly misleading. But "Copy Paper Sunday" just didn't sound good.

These are some warm up sketches for a job I am doing. I will refine them tomorrow morning and send the comps to my client. I thought they would be fun to share here.

I approved the proof for my sketchbook today and I am looking forward to getting printed copies. Everything is coming together for HeroesCon. Banner, sketchbook, supplies, etc. I have one more thing to do next week and I will be ready to go. I am really looking forward to the show.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Good Saturday Morning! Here in the Tampa Bay area we are in our 12th consecutive day of rain here. Deena was looking forward to spending all day Monday on the beach but I don't think the weather is going to cooperate. Strange to think we live on the Sunshine Coast in the Sunshine State.

Today we have a commission for Carlos. He wanted something like the Magik piece I did earlier this month. So the trick is to come up with something similar but unique. And here she is. This was done in mixed media on 11" x 17" Canson Mi-Teintes paper. Thanks again for the commission Carlos!

Friday, May 22, 2009

I couldn't sleep last night so I did some work. Gotta love insomnia. This pin-up of Atom Eve (from Invincible) was done with a PITT brush pen and gray tones with my new Copic Markers. This paper is Strathmore 300 Series Bristol Board with the vellum finish. I like the results I got here. I am going to try out the smooth finish later. Though I don't like that surface for penciling. I may even try some papers made specifically for markers too.

The 300 and the 500 series paper was what I did all my comic art on. But it would have to be cut down to 11" x 17" which was a pain and a waste. So I started using the Canson Fanboy (hate that name) Comic Book Boards. Precut and blue lines made it ready to go. Last night while insomnia and I were hanging out, I ordered a few more Copic Markers to round out what I need, and I was going to order the larger sheets of Strathmore 300 series bristol boards when I found that Strathmore has entered the comic book precut/bluelined arena. They have their 200 series, 300 series and 500 series boards in 24 loose packs and taped pads. They are called Strathmore Sequential Art Surfaces. Nice name. Tommy Castillo even did the illustrations on the covers of the packages. And the price is comparable per sheet to what I was buying before and cutting down to size. Check out the product at the Strathmore Site.

And for anyone interested, I put the Marvel Girl pin-up on eBay last night. You can find her here.

I will be posting artwork later today, but first I wanted to share what arrived this morning.

About 8:15am, FedEx showed up with to boxes of goodies I ordered from Dick Blick Art Supplies. This is my order of supplies, mostly geared towards conventions. I love getting new art supplies. It just makes me that much more excited to work.

In the photo on the left, clockwise, we have a new brush art bin, a travel palette for watercolors, Pitt Brush Pens, Copic Markers, BIG Pitt Brush Pens, pencil lead, and blue Col-Erase pencils.

In the photo on the right, you can't see them all, but we have 26 sheets of Canson Mi-Teintes paper. When I cut those down I will have 52 11" x 17" sheets. As you can tell I have a rainbow of colors to choose from. Good times, good times. :)

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Just a quick sketch today. I have a pad of Canson Mi-Teintes Pastel Paper that is 9" x 12" that I haven't used much. So I tore a page out and did this rather quickly for fun. This is done with ink and color pencil.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

First I want to apologize for not responding to comments the last couple of days. It's been a bit hectic around the Gonzo Compound. Actually the last week has been busy between work and my daughters school activities. But I have read everything and I will be going back and responding tomorrow. Right now I am just trying to make sure I get artwork up everyday. :)

And speaking of today, here is a Marvel Girl for your viewing pleasure. I have green paper and it was either Marvel Girl or She-Hulk. This was my choice. This time. :) She was done in mixed media on 11" x 17" Canson Mi-Teintes paper.

Tomorrow should be an early post. We are going to see Star Trek again, but this time at one of the IMAX theaters in town. WooHoo! See ya tomorrow!

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Another double post today folks. I was commissioned to do a color pin-up in two different graphic novels. The request was for Superwoman on the front page of the JLA: Earth 2 hardcover and to do a Gwen Stacy in the Spider-Man: Death of the Stacys hardcover. The person commissioning the two pieces is Joe, he had just won the Poison Ivy Canson piece on eBay and came to me with this idea. I've never had a request like this and it sounded like fun.

As I started on the Superwoman pose, I just had to have a sniveling Jimmy Olsen in there. One of my favorite scenes in the story. I ran it by Joe (because I didn't want to change it into something he wouldn't like. And it is in the book. Not like I can do another piece instead) and he was all for it. So there you have it. These were done in ink and color pencil on color paper in the hardcover books. Thanks Joe! These were fun to do.And because everyone likes to see the rough stuff, here are the two sketches done for the pieces. I needed to get them down before drawing in the books because the paper used in the books doesn't not like to have an eraser used on it. It's not really drawing paper and is a bit more delicate.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Double post today folks. First up, that Mistress of Magic, ZATANNA. She was done in mixed media on 11" x 17" Canson Mi-Teintes paper. Working on dark colored paper presents some interesting challenges. In this case I cannot use my light box for transferring the sketch to the Canson paper because it is so dark. When I project it, I have to use a light colored pencil to draw with because I cannot see the graphite. Building up light colors like her skin is a different approach too. But I still enjoy the challenge and will continue to work with the paper. She will be up on eBay tonight!

I just ordered a big selection of colored Canson Mi-Teintes paper today. As well as paints, ink, and various other things for upcoming conventions. I think I will try my hand at painting at HeroesCon. The only time I have painted at a show is for the art auction at HeroesCon, but I've never painted commissions at a show so this could be messy. :)

And the reason for the double post is below. I got my banner today. This thing is great. It has the retractable base so the banner pulls out and up like a projection screen, the support rod in the back is three pieces connected together by a bungie type cord. The kind tent supports have. A carrying case too. I can put it together in less than 3 minutes.I went into a local Fast Signs and got a quote of over 300.00 for this exact sign and base. They actually had a few in the store that I looked at. Another locally owned shop had it for over 250.00. I got mine on eBay from a seller in L.A. He had a 100% positive rating and I figured I would give him a shot. Great service. I had it in week. Good communication and great price: $100.00 (includes shipping FedEx Ground). I am a very happy customer!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

So I started this as a sketch a couple of days ago. Not know if it would be done by today. I had Supergirl with Streaky and he was sitting on a floating rock in space. When I was inking, I just decided to add more floating rocks. And that is how this piece came around. BUT. After I was done, I remembered I did an inked piece of Supergirl (less cartoony) in space with floating rocks. Turns out, that image was the first official post for this blog. Didn't plan it but it all comes back to Kara, doesn't it? :) This is done in mixed media on 11" x 17" Canson Mi-Teintes paper. Supergirl will be put on eBay tonight for anyone interested.

I've said before that when I started this blog on January 1, 2008, I was hoping I could post everyday for 2008. And now we have reached the 500th consecutive post since I officially kicked off this blog. If you enjoy this blog and wouldn't mind, please take a look over on the side bar and add yourself as a follower. This blog gets thousands and thousands of unique hits every month and I would love to see that follower area fill up with a bunch of people. That would be way cool! Thanks for hanging around and I hope everyone continues to drop by and find something that interests them. :)

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

I managed to finish this one this morning. It was mostly done from the rough I posted yesterday so it went pretty quick. I'm real happy with this one. I think the color of paper I chose works well here. The ink was done with PITT artist pens. I used a #132 (sorry, they don't have color names) for all the lines except for hair. There I used a black brush pen. I like the results of not having the stark black lines on everything. It makes some of the color transitions from the background to her skin much more subtle. I might have to pick up some more colors of these pen brushes. The rest of the piece was done with color pencils, graphite, white acrylic paint and Staedtler triplus fineliner pens. Yup, mixed media is much easier to say.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

I didn't get to finish anything for the blog today. I did sketch this up though. Just a little Dejah Thoris with an attitude. There seems to be a lot of reclining, sexy Dejahs out there, of which I have contributed more than my share. This time Dejah is killing some Thark butt and taking names. This sketch was done in Photoshop. Sometimes I like working completely digital. I can do so many layers, one on top of another, until I get what I want. Plus I just put a new nip in my stylus and it was moving so nice across the tablet. :)

Monday, May 11, 2009

I was playing with this piece today. This is one of my favorite pin-ups. Mostly because I was so happy with the dogs. While I was working, I had this file open and would work on it when I could. It is far from finished but I will get her done before HeroesCon. I'm sure Royce wouldn't mind. :)

Spent most of the day tweaking and finishing the sketchbook. Thanks for all the suggestions for a title but I think I will just stick to the working title. Not terribly exciting or famously witty, but it tells you what you are getting. I plan on uploading the file to the printer tomorrow. I also expect my banner to arrive this week too. I will post pictures when I set it up.

I have a massive headache so I think I will call it a night. Good night folks!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

I have finally finished the lay out of the 48 pages of color art for the art book. Because it has as much sketchbook material as it does finished art, I decided not to call it a sketchbook. Right now the working title is below. I'm not completely happy with it, so I will try to come up with something else. If anyone has any suggestions I would be glad to hear them. Just keep it clean people. :)

This the cover for the book. Though I may tweak it a bit. I still have to figure out what to do with the title page and the inside front and inside back covers. The back cover will have all my contact info including my new (soon to go live) web site for my comic and pin-up work. I already have the domain name I just have to put the site together. :)

Saturday, May 9, 2009

We are going to see STAR TREK tonight and I am excited. I liked the series, I like the movies, (the even numbered ones mostly), I liked the Next Gen, and I liked Voyager. I never got into Deep Space Nine or Enterprise though. I don't consider myself a Trekker, but I do consider myself a fan of the franchise and the concepts. With all that said, I am really looking forward to the movie and I'm excited by the prospect of a new group of actors carrying the torch as it were.

So I thought it was fitting to do a Star Trek related post. I have been working on the sketchbook alllllllday. But took time out to do this piece. This was penciled in my sketchbook, scanned and colored in Photoshop. I thought it came out decent enough for a quick piece. I probably spent about an hour to an hour and a half working on it. Most of the time was in the colors. Sometimes painting in Photoshop can kill hours because it is so easy to try one thing and then another, and so on and so on. :)

Friday, May 8, 2009

This is a short post today. I have spent all day working on the sketchbook. I plan to have all the production done by Sunday night. I will be using a print on demand service like I have in the past. I hope to have a printed copy in the next week or two for editorial purposes and then order for the show.

I have taken on another fun commission from Kevin Hare. Kevin always, and I mean always, has fun with his requests. I enjoy each and everyone I do for him. This one will involve the Silk Spectre (the second one) and since I have never drawn her before I decided to do some costume sketches. I will need to know all the details of the costume for this piece. More later.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

One more commission for Tim, this time Mantra. I never followed the comic but was aware of it when it came out. Mike Barr wrote (and I believe created) the character. I was lucky enough to work with Mike on a few issues of MAZE AGENCY back during it's Caliber run. His scripts were a joy to work on.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Today we have Wanda the Scarlet Witch. I've drawn a lot of Wanda commissions over the years and I still enjoy drawing her. There is a simplicity to her costume that I really like. Plus she has that really cool head gear that Marvel women are known for. :) Just for fun I have included the rough from my sketchbook. The top piece is mixed media on 11" x 17" Canson Mi-Teintes paper. The bottom is done with color pencil in my sketchbook.And for anyone interested, Wanda is on eBay right here: Scarlet Witch Auction

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Another piece of art for a pitch I am working on with writer J.C. Vaughn. Here is an update on comic work:

Perils on Planet X is still in progress. I work on inking the second issue when I can. I just haven't shown anything in a while because I have probably shown too much of that issue. I don't have a script for the third and last issue so there is no urgency to finish up the last 6-8 pages of inks.

Diary of Night was supposed to be in progress by now. I should have been working on the 3rd or 4th issue of the monthly run by now. But the publisher has to a few more things to get straightened out for us to move forward.

Hot Target is what I have been doing samples for. It is a creator owned project but I won't be working on it unless we can secure a publisher and a page rate.

So nothing on the publishing horizon yet. But that can change at anytime. :)

Sunday, May 3, 2009

I've always like the look of this character, especially the way Bill Sienkiewicz drew her. I just did a convention sketch of Magik at the FX International show and I thought I would revisit her again, this time in color. This was done in mixed media on 11" x 17" Canson Mi-Teintes Paper. I will be putting her on eBay tonight and will provide a link in an update.

I just got done with some yard work and I am heading for the pool! It's a bit warm here today. I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend!

Saturday, May 2, 2009

I got up early today because I have a list of things to do before going to a baseball game tonight. First on the list was to finish Red Sonja. This is the second and last of Tim's commissions. I figured I would follow the horizontal positioning that Tim specified for Wonder Woman. While he did give me a specific pose for that one, he left me to my own devices on this one. This is done on 11" x 17" Canson paper with ink (black and a couple of other colors), color pencils and white acrylic paint. Thanks again Tim! And that clears my commission list. :)

Friday, May 1, 2009

Today's Wonder Woman is a commission piece for Tim. This was done with ink, color pencil and white acrylic paint. Thanks again to Tim for this commission. The next commission on the list is another one for Tim as well: Red Sonja!

And speaking of commissions, I wanted to let everyone know that I am raising the price on the Canson Cutie commissions. When I started doing these I thought the time would be just a little more than doing a 50.00 sketch but I was wrong. They take a lot more time. So I am upping the price to $100.00 for the color Canson Cutie. Also, I am adding a new commission style and rate as well. If you are interested in a piece done on the gray charcoal paper with ink and white highlights, that will be $75.00. This falls in a middle ground between a inked black and white piece, and the full color Canson Cutie. I will also be doing all three types of commissions at HeroesCon this year. Should be interesting in that I have never worked in color at a show.